deputy head teacher

A deputy head teacher, deputy headmaster, deputy headmistress, assistant head teacher, assistant headmaster or assistant headmistress is the second most senior teacher in a school in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Secondary schools usually also have between one and five deputy heads ("depute head" in Scotland) and several assistant heads, who act as assistants or subordinates to the head teacher or executive head teacher. Commonly, a state school will have between two and six assistant head teachers (AHTs). Each AHT is normally in charge of a specific area of the school, such as administration, staff appraisal, first year, sixth form, or discipline. Normally, AHTs have only a small teaching role within the school. A state primary school will usually have a single deputy head, although they may sometimes be replaced by two assistant heads. In some larger primary schools, there may be two deputy heads or a mixture of deputy head and assistant heads. In some primary schools, deputy heads may be class based with some non contact time to carry out leadership or management roles. In other primary schools, the deputy head may not have a full time teaching role, but have a range of whole school leadership responsibilities. The terms "deputy headmaster" and "deputy headmistress" used to be the standard throughout both the state and private sectors, with "deputy head teacher" usually being used only to refer to them collectively. In recent years, however, it has become usual to officially use the gender neutral term in state schools. Nevertheless, the gender specific terms are still in common use, and may be in more formal use in some schools, particularly the remaining state grammar schools. Independent schools usually still officially use the gender specific terms. Some use other terms, such as "senior master" or "second master", but these terms have generally gone out of use in the state sector.